Method of arranging ship&#39;s holds or the like, and holds thus arranged



Jul 21, 1959 Filed larch e. 1956 V P. A. MEGE METHOD OF ARRANGING SHIP'SHOLDS OR THE LIKE, AND HOLDS mus ARRANGED 4 Sh'ets-Sheet 1 July 21,1959' P; A. MEGE 2,895,444 I METHOD OF ARRANGING SHIPS HOLDS OR THEFiled March 6, 71956 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 LIKE, AND HOLDS THUS ARRANGED Jul21, 1959 MEGE METHOD OF ARRANGING SHIP'S HOLDS OR THE 1 LIKE, AND HOLDSmus ARRANGED rum umhs, 195s 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 llllll lir P. A. M EGEANGING 2,895,444 7 METHOD OFARR SHIP'S ows OR THE LIKE; AND HOLDS musARRANGED 'Filed March 6, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 was United States PatentNIETHOD OF ARRANGING SHIPS HOLDS OR THE LIKE, AND HOLDS THUS ARRANGEDPaul Andr Mege, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France Application March 6, 1956,Serial No. 574,054 Claims priority, application France March 18, 1955 6Claims. (Cl. 114-713) shipowner scrupulously to comply with them. Inparticular, provision has to be made of means to prevent the unexpectedshifting of the grain owing to the rolling and pitching of the shipwhich might run the risk of aifecting its stability. Regulations now inforce have led shipbuilders to provide, over the centre of the hold, akind of compensating compartment, generally called a feeder, with acapacity of about 2.5 to 8% of the volume of the hold. These bins orspecies of chimneys must be full and in free communication with theinternal space of the hold in order to compensate for the vacuums thatmay possibly occur owing to the grain shifting. Moreover, it isincumbent on shipowners to provide a longitudinal bulkhead or shiftingboard placed inside the hold and extending for about one-third of itsheight from the ceiling.

These various regulations and obligations mean that vessels intended tocarry grain are not suitable for conveying materials other than bulkgoods, unless relatively extensive and costly transformation work hasbeen carried out.

It will easily be seen that a compensating compartment frequently havinga capacity of 70 to 80 tons cannot be easily taken down when it issituated in the hatchway space, and very speedily re-erected when theship, after having carried packages, is due to take on a cargo of grain.This remark also applies to the shifting boards.

The purpose of this invention is to obviate these various disadvantages,and relates to a method of arranging holds that enables a very speedychangeover to be made from the conditions required for conveyingpackages and those necessary for carrying bulk goods and vice versa.

This method is remarkable, more particularly, in that it consists ofproviding bins or compensating compartments, generally called feeders,at the ends of the hold, leaving the hatchway space free.

According to another feature of the invention, a semibin is arranged ateach end of the hold. In this latter case, the volume of each of thecompartments in question corresponds approximately in percentage to halfthe total capacity of the hold.

According to yet another feature of the invention, the upper space ofthe hold is divided, for example, for about one-third of its totalheight, by partitions or shifting boards that can be retracted bypivoting, for example, placed in a longitudinal direction in relation tothe ship.

It should also be noticed that, according to this invention, the abovementioned arrangements are carried out in the spaces bounded by thecomponents forming binding strakes or by using the latter as supports,for

example, for the feeder partitions, shifting boards, etc.

It will immediately be observed that by applying the method which hasjust been described, it is extremely easy to change over from carryingpackages to the conveyance of grain, and vice-versa. This is due, forthe most part, to the fact that the hatchway space remains quite free,that the compensating compartments do not take up any place that mightaifect the handling and stowing of goods on board of the ship, that theshifting boards are easily retractable and that no alteration whatsoeveris made to the strengthening parts of the ship, such as the bindingstrakes, cross beams, etc.

The invention also covers holds arranged according to the aforegoingmethod and is remarkable, more particularly, in that the compensatingcompartments or bins generally called feeders assume, for example, theshape of semi-bins and are placed at the ends: of the holds in questionin the longitudinal direction of the ship, the hatchway space beingentirely free.

According to another feature of the invention, the hold comprises, forabout one-third of its height, measured from its ceiling, longitudinalpartitions or shifting boards, fitted in such manner that they can beretracted, by slewing, for example.

Other features of the invention will be revealed by the description thatfollows.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic longitudinal cross-section on'a larger scaleof a hold arranged according to the invention;

Figure 4 is a plane view taken along the line ,IV-IV of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a cross-section along the line V-V of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a cross-section along the line VI-VI of Figure 4.

According to the example shown, the ship arranged according to theinvention has been shown diagrammatically by the hull 1. This shipcomprises, for example, five holds shown at 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Theseholds have been simply indicated by the outline of the hatchways givingaccess to them. According to the invention, the hatchway space isentirely free, as will, moreover, be seen from Figure 3 which shows holdNo. 3, for example, on a larger scale and in longitudinal cross-section.

In that which follows, hold No. 3 will alone be described, it beingclearly understood that the other holds of the ship could be similarlyconstructed, without, however, this being compulsory.

Hold No. 3 is bounded at both ends, considered in the longitudinaldirection of the ship, by cross bulkheads to the latter, which have beenshown at 7 and 8. The bottom of the hold is shown at 9. The lower deckwhich is also the ceiling of the hold has been shown at 10. The upperdeck of the ship, with the position of the corresponding hatchway, hasbeen shown at 11 and the hatchway at 12. This hatchway can be closed byan assembly of metal or wooden hatch covers of any kind showndiagrammatically at 13. 14 also indicates the position of the usualwinches for handling goods At the ends of the hold corresponding topartitions 7 and 8 compensating bins or compartments 15 and 16,generally termed feeders, have been provided. These compartments arejoined to the transversal partion 7 or more exactly to the upper part ofthis partition, generally called tween-deck bulkhead. This upper parthas been shown in the drawing at 7', with regard to the bulkhead 7, andat 8 for the bulkhead 8. Identical compensating compartments have been.provided for theadjacenthold's'Z and 4 and are shown in the drawing at17 and 18'. The tween-deck-also comprises an opening or hatchway 19which can be formed by means of suitable hatch'covers (not shown) of anykind.

If we now refer to. the figures showing the hold in section, we shallnotice that in the transversal direction, each of the compensatingcompartments or feeders such as'1 6, for. example (see Fig. is dividedinto 3 compartments 16, 16-, 16, positioned symmetrically in relationftothe .general longitudinal axis of the ship shown at -XX. These variouscompartments are separated from each other by longitudinal Walls 20 and21. Other bulkheads 22 and 23 bound the compensating compartmentstowards the exterior. These spaces emerge on the upper deck by entryopenings-42', 42", 42" (see Fig. 1). The binding strake of the upperdeck is shown at 24 in the various drawings, and it can be seen that,according to the construction planned, in this application, the feedermerely presses on this binding strake without the ship-builder beingobliged to alter the latter in any way. i

The derricks generally provided on the ship have been shown at 25 and 26by way of example, and it will be noticed that nothing prevents theirbeing arranged to pass through the central compartment 16" and theirbeing fixed on the tween-deck bulkhead 7 or 8.

As shown in Figure 5, the binding strake of the lower deck shown at 29carries shifting boards 30 and 31 on each lateral side, which are hingedat 32 and 33 and controlled by cables 34, 35 and 36, '37-shown in thefigure by the dotted lines, and in a diagrammatical manner. The purposeof these cables is simply to retain the shifting b oards when they arerequired to assume a vertical position.

The shifting boards form three spaces A, B, C and their height issubstantially equal to one-third of the total height of the hold.

As shown in Figure 5, suitable openings are indicated at 38 and .39which enable the compensating compartments 15" (or 16") and 15' (16') tocommunicate with the interior spaces of the hold which are between theships hull and the shifting boards 30-and 31. Openings or passages 43and 44 positioned along the binding strakes enable the lateral spacesformed by the shifting boards to be filled.

Figure 4 showshow the normal cross beams 45 of the ship traverse thespace-s comprised between the hull and the shifting boards, without,however, preventing free :cgcess from, the tween-deck through thepassages 43 and It will immediately be observed that the arrangementaccording to this invention is very easy to provide for, in a givenposition, in a ship intended to carry packages, compartments such as 15and 16 whichinnowise affect access to the holds or operations thatrequire to take place on deck. 7

It is also equally easy to provide for retractable shifting boards suchas the shifting boards 30 and 31 by hinging them on the binding strake29 of the lower deck and possibly to make provision for auxiliarybinding strakes 40-and 41 in connection with the entry openings 43 and44. When it becomes necessary to transport grain or any other bulkgoods, it is only necessary to lower the shifting boards 30 and 31 sothat they assume a vertical position shown in Figures 5 and 6 and tocarry out the filling of the holds through the openings 15 for thecentral part of the hold','comprised between the shifting boards 30 and31, and through the openings 15" and 15 for the spaces comprised betweenthe ships hull and the respective shifting boardsS-l) and 31. Thereciprocal transformation of the ship'is obviously quite simple and canbe achieved with great rapidity.

Obviously, the invention is by no means restricted to the form ofembodiment described and shown, which has only been given by way ofexample.

What I claim is:

1. In a ship intended for use as a bulk carrier and at will forcarrying. parcel goods without the need of any transformation, atween-deck, at least one hold provided therein, a hatch opening in thetween-deck having an area substantially corresponding to the horizontalarea of the hold, affording the direct introduction of parcel goods ofany kind, and channel-like compartments extending transversely .of saidship having an open top and extending vertically over said tween-deck,provided at each end of the hold considered longitudinally to the shipand communicating with the hold at their bottom portions, the saidcompartments being'located .outside the open area of thesaid hatch andforming a free volumepermanently connected with the hold and adapted tobe filled with bulk cargo when theship is used as a bulk carrier and to.compensateany free spaces in the hold which may occur when the bulkcargo is shifted during the transport due tothe deplacements of the shipon sea.

2. A ship according to claim 1 wherein said channellike compartmentsextend laterally practically over the entire width of the hold.

3. A ship according to claim 2 wherein a transversely located partitionseparates two adjacent holds, whereas two channel-likecompartmentspertaining to the adjacent ends of said adjacent holds are secured tosaid partition.

4. ship according to claim 2 wherein the upper part of said channel-likecompartments is secured to the usual structural components of the upperdeck and of the hatch coaming.

5. A ships hold according to claim 2 comprising at least two retractableshifting boards freely hanging inside of the hold from the tween-deckfor about one-third of the height of the hold, at both ends of the hatchopening and extending longitudinally to the ship.

6. A ships hold according to claim 5 wherein fixed longitudinalpartitions are provided in said channel-like compartments. for dividingthe said compartments into three spaces corresponding substantially tothe division of the holds as provided for by the underlying two shiftingboards.

"References "Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS225,581 Ferguson Mar. 16, 1880 240,460 Rainey et al. Apr. 19, 1881706,708 Wolvin Aug. 12, 1902 2,750,914 MacGregor et al. June 19, 1956

